...the news headlines include a number of stories that reflect the persistence of a past that is everlasting and does not wish to pass...
(Jelin, State Repression and the Struggles for Memory, 2003)

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Chile: Pinochet, next generation

Back in July, Otto noted that Augusto's grandson, Rodrigo García Pinochet, had his nose put out of joint when even the right-wingers didn't want him as a candidate.

That hasn't changed, so Pinochet junior is now running as an independent for the Chilean congress in next week's election. In his televised campaign he simply showed a picture of himself, his mother, and his notorious grandfather. Mind you, you can't really blame him for taking the visual approach: he had just two seconds to do it.

Rodrigo's mother Lucia was elected councillor of a rich suburb of Santiago last year. But the family are also facing challenges: crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon is after their money.

On the other end of the political spectrum, Salvador Allende's daughter Isabel (cousin of the author...) is already a deputy in the Chilean congress.